[aaronatthedoublef]

So a sort of babka monkey bread! Cool. Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Lots of challah baking. Violet's bat mitzvah is July 11 and she has decided I will make the challah for it. I haven't decided on how many strands in the braid or how big it needs to be. I need to try some 6 strand braids. I have a nice 4 strand going. It looks a bit like a ladder.

Violet has also decided I should make the treats we serve after Friday night services. We do the best we can but unfortunately security costs have mushroomed and so we've cut back in other areas. So I'll bake. I can do better than what the synagogue buys. It's going to require some experimentation and Violet has numerous suggestions. Her latest is macrons which I have only done a couple times long ago and babka which I've never made. So far I have brown butter chocolate chip cookies, molasses cookies, Persian shortbread (made with chickpea flour so GF). Not sure what else to add.

I do have access to the synagogue kitchen which is good for scale but it has no AC so it can be very hot!

[aaronatthedoublef]

So bread didn't last longer, it was eaten faster.

Waxed cloth is being presented as an alternative to plastic bags in my neck of the woods.

There are silicon storage bags for produce too. Lots of stuff to replace single use plastic bags (which I use more than once, anyway).

[aaronatthedoublef]

Okay. Thanks. Either way I need to make it again! The cake looked pretty sad. It baked VERY fast. So I need to drop the oven temp and check it sooner. But KAB says to leave the oven door closed for 45 minutes! It was overbaked by then.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The birthday cake, while looking kind of shaggy and lopsided (my trademark?) was a success. Kate went back for seconds. I made lime n da coconut frosting. It was hard getting coconut flavor. I tried using coconut cream and coconut oil but I needed to add a touch of coconut flavoring to put it over. I also added lime juice from one small lime and zest from two.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Fascinating! I've never let choux dough sit overnight. I'll try it next time. These look great.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Did you post your recipe? I'd rather start with yours than one off the internet. These look similar in concept to popovers.

Judging from the recipes, I'll need to make two different batches - a dairy one and a non-dairy one (yes, I know, non-dairy cheese bread sounds like an oxymoron).

[aaronatthedoublef]

I just realized - I lined the bottom of the cake pans with parchment. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Next time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike! These look great. I've looked at a few recipes and they all use tapioca flour and say casava is not a substitute even though they are both from the casava. Can I substitute?

[aaronatthedoublef]

It's Kate's birthday so we baked a chiffon cake yesterday and will frost it today. It collapsed from the bottom which is weird. I overbaked it and I wonder if that is why.

And I made scones this morning. Those came out well but needed more raisins this time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA - I saw you were making a bread with apple chunks in it. Every time I've had bread with actual pieces of apple in it the bread is gluey where the apples are from too much moisture. Do you cook the apples before you put them in? Cover them in flour or cornstarch? Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made more shortbread cookies this week. The last batch was too crumbly but I made it work. This batch I upped the butter and reduced the flour and the dough came together like the pictures in the recipe.

More challah too. I made two two lb. loaves and 16 3 oz rolls. I did four strand braids. I'll try some six next and see which I like. I think I'll switch to fours from now on except for special occasions. They just look much nicer than threes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sorry I'm late to this. I use SAF Red in challah and apple cider is 44% of flour with honey being 14%. The only full on fail I had was when I used SAF Gold.

I have a sealed block of Fleischmann's ADY I could try that too. I have no idea how old it is though and if it is still alive.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Just found out our ShopRites have it for $2.95/5lbs so I may head there and by a bunch. Normally I buy 10lb bags at Costco for $9.99 but these are cheaper. Five lbs. is more convenient for home use but 10 lbs. is for challah making at temple. Golden whole wheat is on sale too. That appears to be the replacement for white whole wheat.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Whoa! That is great. We're on sale $4.50 for 5lbs with no limit. I'm buying a bunch as I've been using it up pretty quickly.

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